HZarbaugh
Member Since 2026
Hi! We are Heather & Monte.
I’ve had cats my entire life (almost 50 years), but this is my first experience with diabetes.
Monte is an 11 y/o, neutered Havana Brown. He has had a health battle over the last few years and we’ve tried many things. Monte has been in a fight with alopecia for the past 5 years. We initially thought it might be stress-induced overgrooming after the massive life disruptions that occurred through 2020 (human dad worked from home during the pandemic, then human mom had spine surgery, and human dad experienced job loss).
Despite trying an antidepressant and environment enrichment, the licking and alopecia worsened.
We took our cats off of dry food in 2022. We transitioned to higher quality wet foods. After months of trying that, we saw no changes. That’s when we started prednisolone (mid 2022). It helped somewhat. He began to regrow hair. Our feline-only vet diagnosed Monte with atopy (an unknown allergen, but more likely inhaled or topical origin).
In 2024, I transitioned all of our cats, except for one, to a homemade raw diet. They accepted it well and had no new issues.
Last summer, Monte began experiencing worsening itching and alopecia. His hair was falling out in clumps. He was extremely itchy. His blood tests were normal except for slightly elevated bilirubin.
We found that cyprohepatidine eases the worst of his itching. We use it as needed now. We increased his prednisolone without benefit. We ended up switching him to dexamethasone at some point. (Can’t recall when, because I needed another spine surgery.) Dex helped calm the itching, but his hair did not regrow.
Then in December he began to drop weight despite a voracious appetite. He was drinking a lot and urinating frequently. Then he began having weakness in his back legs. He concurrently began having difficulty eating and had lots of drool.
A physical exam showed he had something that is unusual in cats - a blocked salivary gland, a sialocele. We need to see a dentist to have that surgically removed.
His lab results showed elevated glucose. His urine test indicated high ketones as well. The vet diagnosed steroid-induced diabetes. She immediately started us with glucose monitoring and insulin (glargine) administration the day we got the lab results. We were instructed to give insulin only if his reading is above 225.
Over the last 3 weeks, his readings have been difficult to get any consistency. He has only once gone over 350 (on a day he ate a raw beef preparation). He has required insulin typically once per day, but a few days he needed it twice.
My questions are:
1) Can anyone direct me where to get the best price on a Freestyle Libre? We’d like to potentially try that to get a better idea of glucose fluctuations since it has been difficult to determine a glucose curve even with 2-3 daily testings, and his ears are so pitiful.
2) Does anyone have experience with using supportive natural remedies in conjunction with insulin injections? I’d like to possibly try some gentle supplements that could support my boy’s liver and pancreas while we try to get him toward remission.
3) How can I learn which meats may cause higher blood glucose spikes in cats? I’m reading and learning about the process of gluconeogenesis in cats.
4) Does anyone have experience with trying Atopica in a diabetic cat with a difficult to control allergy? What about the possibility of allergy testing? (I’m so afraid it will show it’s a dust allergy.)
I’m thankful to have learned about this message board. I look forward to learning from your experiences! Thank you.
I’ve had cats my entire life (almost 50 years), but this is my first experience with diabetes.
Monte is an 11 y/o, neutered Havana Brown. He has had a health battle over the last few years and we’ve tried many things. Monte has been in a fight with alopecia for the past 5 years. We initially thought it might be stress-induced overgrooming after the massive life disruptions that occurred through 2020 (human dad worked from home during the pandemic, then human mom had spine surgery, and human dad experienced job loss).
Despite trying an antidepressant and environment enrichment, the licking and alopecia worsened.
We took our cats off of dry food in 2022. We transitioned to higher quality wet foods. After months of trying that, we saw no changes. That’s when we started prednisolone (mid 2022). It helped somewhat. He began to regrow hair. Our feline-only vet diagnosed Monte with atopy (an unknown allergen, but more likely inhaled or topical origin).
In 2024, I transitioned all of our cats, except for one, to a homemade raw diet. They accepted it well and had no new issues.
Last summer, Monte began experiencing worsening itching and alopecia. His hair was falling out in clumps. He was extremely itchy. His blood tests were normal except for slightly elevated bilirubin.
We found that cyprohepatidine eases the worst of his itching. We use it as needed now. We increased his prednisolone without benefit. We ended up switching him to dexamethasone at some point. (Can’t recall when, because I needed another spine surgery.) Dex helped calm the itching, but his hair did not regrow.
Then in December he began to drop weight despite a voracious appetite. He was drinking a lot and urinating frequently. Then he began having weakness in his back legs. He concurrently began having difficulty eating and had lots of drool.
A physical exam showed he had something that is unusual in cats - a blocked salivary gland, a sialocele. We need to see a dentist to have that surgically removed.
His lab results showed elevated glucose. His urine test indicated high ketones as well. The vet diagnosed steroid-induced diabetes. She immediately started us with glucose monitoring and insulin (glargine) administration the day we got the lab results. We were instructed to give insulin only if his reading is above 225.
Over the last 3 weeks, his readings have been difficult to get any consistency. He has only once gone over 350 (on a day he ate a raw beef preparation). He has required insulin typically once per day, but a few days he needed it twice.
My questions are:
1) Can anyone direct me where to get the best price on a Freestyle Libre? We’d like to potentially try that to get a better idea of glucose fluctuations since it has been difficult to determine a glucose curve even with 2-3 daily testings, and his ears are so pitiful.
2) Does anyone have experience with using supportive natural remedies in conjunction with insulin injections? I’d like to possibly try some gentle supplements that could support my boy’s liver and pancreas while we try to get him toward remission.
3) How can I learn which meats may cause higher blood glucose spikes in cats? I’m reading and learning about the process of gluconeogenesis in cats.
4) Does anyone have experience with trying Atopica in a diabetic cat with a difficult to control allergy? What about the possibility of allergy testing? (I’m so afraid it will show it’s a dust allergy.)
I’m thankful to have learned about this message board. I look forward to learning from your experiences! Thank you.
He eats a commercial raw food. His blood glucose levels are ok, nowhere where I'd like them to be but I've long accepted the fact that my cat is a hot mess and a weirdo. He's just plugging along with all his health issues and is happy otherwise.
